CHANGING THE FACE OF END ORGAN FAILURE

Company

IVIVA Medical was founded with the goal of developing autologous tissue constructs as a solution to end-state kidney disease (ESKD). End-stage kidney disease affects over 500,000 patients in the United States and despite transplant being the only definitive treatment for ESKD, most will never receive a donor kidney. Our team is leveraging emerging complimentary technologies in tissue engineering, 3D additive manufacturing, and stem cell biology in order to realize the potential of regenerative medicine to end donor organ shortage. We are developing bioartificial platforms and systems not only to provide therapies but to serve as the foundational building blocks for the next generation of engineered functionalized tissues.

Technology

Organ Shortage Solution

It is critical that we develop alternative ESKD therapies that will alleviate donor organ demand, reduce mortality, and provide better quality of life for patients. Developing a clinical application that replicates high level native kidney function and physiology requires a functionalized extracellular matrix scaffold to provide the architecture and stability required for physiologic perfusion and filtration. At IVIVA we’re developing therapies using both decellularized matrices and proprietary printed hydrogel composites to replicate physiologically functional tissue constructs; platforms with the potential to replicate autologous renal function. Our composite hydrogel scaffolds are created using computer designed architecture and provide a unique starting point for developing many types of perfusable tissue constructs.

Disease & Pathology Modelling

Our organ engineering technology is dependent on biomimetic systems capable of replicating physiological conditions in vitro. Along with our tissue engineering platforms we have developed a variety of biomimetic systems capable of modeling whole organ function in a range of tissue types. These systems allow for the modeling of high level tissue function and disease pathology on a whole organ scale, as well as provide a test platform for therapies, devices, and interventions. We have experience developing systems based on both large and small animal models for various organs.

Bioreactor Systems

At IVIVA we also develop custom bioreactors systems designed to provide highly physiological in vitro culture environments for a variety of organ types, allowing tissue constructs to achieve high level function. These systems are suitable for ex vivo culture, decellularization, and recellularization of large and small animal whole organ tissue.

Iviva Team

Company:

Harald Ott

Founder

Harald Ott is a thoracic surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associate Professor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, where he built one of the leading laboratory groups in organ engineering and regeneration. He discovered and perfected the method of stripping an organ of its own cells and then infusing the remaining scaffold with new progenitor cells. To date, his technology has been successfully applied to heart, liver, lung, kidney, pancreas, and composite tissue regeneration. The approach of reseeding and engraftment of native cells to generate personalized organ grafts potentially eliminates donor organ shortage and the need for life-long immunosuppression in transplant patients, and thus lays the path for effective solutions for the millions of people in need of organ repair or replacement. Harald’s background is in surgery (M.D.; University Innsbruck in Austria, 2000) and this training has been an asset for his chosen field of scientific research and development. The privilege to work with patients suffering from end organ failure provides the motivation to continue to push boundaries in organ regeneration. Inspired by a pediatric patient suffering from end stage kidney disease, he founded IVIVA Medical to develop novel treatment solutions for this devastating disease.

Charles Klassen

Scientist

Charles Klassen leads research and development efforts at IVIVA including developing tissue engineering systems, bioreactors, and disease modeling technology for both internal and external use. Charles received an M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2014 after conducting research focused on regeneration of liver tissue using perfusion decellularized scaffolds as a platform. In addition to tissue regeneration he worked on the development and refinement of bioreactor systems to serve as platforms for stem cell based regeneration of tissue scaffolds and whole organ constructs. Prior to focusing on tissue engineering Charles worked on a large scale epidemiological investigation of low dose radiation mortality. He received a B.S. degree from Colby College in 2010 after majoring in physics with a minor in philosophy.

Executive Advisory:

Brock Reeve

Brock Reeve is Executive Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, whose mission is to use stem cells, both as tools and as therapies, to understand and treat the root causes of leading degenerative diseases. Under the leadership of its Executive Committee, HSCI invests in scientific research and its faculty has grown to include over 300 Principal and Affiliated members. The Institute is engaged with several leading pharmaceutical companies and foundations in joint research projects and its faculty have founded over 20 stem cell-related startup companies and serve on leading Scientific Advisory Boards.

Brock came to HSCI from the commercial sector with extensive experience in both management consulting and operations for technology-based companies, with a focus on life sciences. Prior to Harvard, Brock was COO and Managing Director of Life Science Insights, an IDC company, a consulting and market research firm specializing in information technology in life sciences. As a consultant, Brock has additional experience in IT and the healthcare/life sciences market with IBM, Viant Corp. and SRI Consulting, where his clients included some of the leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies.

Brock received a BA and MPhil from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

John LaMattina

Dr. John L. LaMattina is the former Senior Vice President, Pfizer Inc and President, Pfizer Global Research and Development. In this role, Dr. LaMattina oversaw the drug discovery and development efforts of over 12,000 colleagues in the United States, Europe and Asia. He retired from this position in December, 2007.

Dr. LaMattina spent 30 years at Pfizer Inc, having held positions of increasing responsibility for Pfizer Central Research, including Vice President of US Discovery Operations in 1993, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Discovery Operations in 1998 and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Development in 1999. During his tenure as head of global R&D, Pfizer produced new treatments for cancer, smoking cessation rheumatoid arthritis and AIDS. Dr. LaMattina is the author of numerous scientific publications and holds a number of U.S. patents. In addition, he is the author of “Drug Truths: Dispelling the Myths About Pharma R&D” and “Devalued and Distrusted – Can the Pharmaceutical Industry Restore Its Broken Image?” He is also a contributor to Forbes.com.

Dr. LaMattina graduated cum laude from Boston College in 1971 with a B.S. in Chemistry. He attended the University of New Hampshire receiving a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1975. He then moved on to Princeton University as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Professor E. C. Taylor.